


A Lesson

by Solovei



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Gen, Language Barrier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:32:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2831600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solovei/pseuds/Solovei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emil tries to teach Lalli some Swedish, with mixed results</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lesson

Emil had drawn the night watch again; he was beginning to think the Dane had rigged the lots out of some misplaced spite towards him personally. Still, Lalli was usually up during the night anyway, and spending time with the scout wasn’t too bad, once you got over the fact that he didn’t understand anything you said. It was kind of nice, in a way.

 

“-- So anyway, this guy I was in training with, he thought he was the best at everything, but _clearly_ he was just trying to show off in front of the girls, you know? It was really pathetic!” He finished with a self-satisfied laugh, raising his arms to stretch his back. As always, the Finnish teenager said nothing, the expression on his face that of slightly bored apprehension as he sat with his arms folded over his knees, rifle at his side.

“You know, Lalli, one of these days we should have an actual conversation. That would be nice, right? Maybe I could teach you some words or something while we’re out here...”

This seemed to pique the scout’s interest, as he sat up and glanced at Emil with an almost imperceptible smile. He tapped his chin, looking at their surroundings. There wasn’t much, really.

“Um… lets see…” At this point, he made an exaggerated shivering gesture. “It’s cold, right? _Kallt_?”

He got a few blinks in reply, but this didn’t deter him. He was a Swede after all, and if Swedes gave up this easily, they would not have reclaimed so much of their lands, or built a city as magnificent as Mora.

“Okay, maybe that’s too hard... “ after all, cold was a very abstract term. You can’t touch cold, at least not when it’s in the air. Maybe he should look for something more solid, something real. He pointed excitedly to the small fire they’d been allowed to set up to keep warm during the night. “ _Brasa_. Can you say that, Lalli? Braaa-sa.”

This time, the Finn nodded slowly, but didn’t say anything in response. Emil was starting to feel a bit silly, sitting out here and saying random words and waving his hands like an idiot. He pointed up to the full moon. “ _Månen_?” Surely he would understand that, he was the one that summoned the thing, supposedly. But once again there was only a small nod and nothing else to suggest comprehension.

“Ugh, I give up.” He said finally and bit off a chunk of his meat jerky in frustration, staring into the dancing flames. For a while, everything was quiet; only the howling wind broke the night-time silence. They had picked a good spot to make camp for the night, and the chance of an attack here was minimal, but Sigrun had insisted on setting up a rotating watch anyway. He was about to start dozing off, just for a short while… it was fine, really, because Lalli was right there and he was much better at this than...

“Emil…”

The sound of his name snapped him awake. It was his turn to blink now - Lalli had never, ever called him by name before. His features softened somewhat and he smiled before realizing that the scout was pointing at something off in the distance.

The smile vanished. “Go get the others. We need to leave,” the Cleanser said.  


End file.
